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Jerry Pacek didn't get a cent for his 10 years of wrongful imprisonment. There's no Pennsylvania law that allows for monetary compensation if such mistakes were made.

At least 15 other states, including Ohio, have these compensation laws. Ohio's law allows for from $25,000 to $40,330 for each full year of wrongful imprisonment.

A bipartisan Pennsylvania effort to add a compensation law didn't get very far on two tries in 2000 and 2001.

House Bill 2490, introduced by state Rep. Howard Fargo, R-Grove City, in 2000, would have provided compensation to Pacek for his 10 years of wrongful imprisonment. The bill was referred to the House Judiciary Committee in April 2000, and died for lack of support. A year later, a new bill -- House Bill 1442 -- was introduced with a broader appeal.

It called for damages for wrongful imprisonment not to exceed $25,000 -- or twice the amount of the gross wages the plaintiff earned in the year prior to the arrest, whichever is greater -- for each year of wrongful imprisonment.

This bill was also referred to the House Judiciary Committee, but died for lack of support.

It didn't come up again in 2002, 2003 or this year.

But a Philadelphia legislator says he plans to build support for it and reintroduce it again in 2005.

State Rep. James Roebuck Jr., D-Philadelphia, said for some legislators, this compensation law is a difficult issue.

"I don't think anyone wants to be perceived as being somehow about getting people off for crimes for which they are convicted," Roebuck said. "You tend to be portrayed as being soft on crime if you pick up that cause -- that's just my gut feeling."

Fargo's bill was an example: Pacek should have been due something, but not enough legislators supported the idea, Roebuck said.

"It needs to be taken up and we need to get the legislature to move it forward," Roebuck said. "This can't be, 'Oh gee, we made a mistake, good luck.'"

For some reason, the issue hasn't risen to the level of visibility it needs to, so he and another Philadelphia Democrat, Rep. Mike McGeehan, plan to lobby members of the House Judiciary Committee and convince them to consider it.

While Roebuck had not heard of Pacek's plight, he said that in Philadelphia, a promising musician named Vincent Moto spent 10 years in jail for rape but was exonerated with DNA evidence.

"But there was no compensation for those years," Roebuck said. "I can't imagine what it's like to spend 10 years in prison for something I didn't do. He had children who didn't understand why their dad was in prison."

Pacek also tried and failed at the civil suit route.

In 1997, federal Judge Donetta Ambrose dismissed Pacek's suit against former Allegheny County detectives Theodore Botula and Art Sabulsky. Pacek had charged the two detectives who arrested him with violating his civil rights. Pacek decided not to appeal.

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